We need robust sporting infra to excel in Olympics

A sport enthusiast with his body painted in the colours of India`s national flag poses for pictures as he shows support to the Indian athletes, in Ahmedabad. Pic/AFP

Yesterday, this edit space highlighted the importance of rewarding our medal winners from the Tokyo Olympics. The focus was really on all the politicians and leaders who have promised cash awards to our athletes. The cash must be given, grand pronouncements must not be made for two minutes of fame, and then, convenient amnesia takes over. That was the thrust of the editorial on Monday.

Today we want to highlight even as there is plenty of discussion about the road ahead, that our grassroots sports infrastructure must be much better and more robust. This paper has exposed several times the slipshod facilities at school level sports. We have seen girls changing in vans and buses because of a lack of facilities, there have been reports of no medical access, not even a proper first aid kit at certain venues. This paper had also done an extensive report on the sorry state of spectator stands at a South Mumbai sports ground. For years now, there are spaces in the stands which can seriously injure spectators and in spite of numerous reports, pictures and warnings, it has been a huge problem for years.

We know that champions are identified during these years and if we want an assembly line of sportspersons, these are the years when they need access, opportunities and coaching. Besides that, they need encouragement which can come from families but, most importantly, they need good infrastructure to practise sport.

All the money to our successful sportspersons is welcome, but keep a laser sharp focus and attention to detail at this stage itself. If we want to become a multi-sport medal winning nation, we need depth in our contingent, and athletes in different sports. For that the base needs to be immensely strong, or we will find that the pyramid simply caves in.